(Photo by Brandon W. Mudd)
When the lights went out on the 2011 NHRA Full Throttle drag racing season last November, Greg Stanfield wore a big smile as he gripped the Auto Club Finals Pro Stock winner’s trophy. But he couldn’t stop taking occasional glances at Jason Line’s season championship celebration that was taking place a short distance away.
That, obviously, is where Stanfield wants to be when the 23-race 2012 season ends in November.
He begins that quest in the 52nd annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Winternationals, Thursday through Sunday, at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, Calif., joining a tough bunch of racers who covet the same reward.
It won’t be easy, and that’s why Stanfield and the Nitro Fish/Coffman Tank Trucks GXP crew worked tirelessly to prepare for the traditional opener with test sessions at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway that did not end until Tuesday evening.
Stanfield ran well on the venerable Pomona asphalt last season, going to the finals at both events.
He also was runner-up at the Charlotte 4-Wide and at Topeka and placed seventh in the final standings.
“All winter we concentrated on improving the engine’s performance,” he said Tuesday evening. “We’re ready to go. We want to see how well we do when qualifying begins on Thursday.
“I think Eddie (Guarnaccia, team crew chief) has a good handle on tuning the car for the Pomona track.”
Guarnaccia used the testing time to try the new engine parts from Stanfield’s shop and he was meticulously sorting through the mounds of data from the numerous runs they put on the GXP in anticipation of Thursday’s initial quarter-mile qualifying lap.
“It takes a lot of runs to sort things out,” he said. “We tried so many different combinations and we’re still deciding which ones to use.
“It was important for us to get that done because we race at Phoenix next weekend. Right now, though, our focus is on Pomona. We’ve had good luck there . . . and we are looking forward to starting the new season on a good note.”
Single qualifying runs on Thursday and Friday begin at 1:30 p.m. while the final two sessions on Saturday are at 11:30 a.m. and 2:15 p.m. Sunday’s eliminations get underway at 11 a.m.
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